Alasdair Allan

@aallan
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Scientist, author, hacker, maker, and journalist. Writes, speaks, and builds. An accidental privacy advocate. You can reach me at 📫 [email protected]. #MachineLearning #TinyML #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #LLM #EdgeComputing #Embedded #IoT #Mobile #Apple #BigData #Space #SmallSat #CubeSat
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Alasdair AllanApr 9

I expanded the #Vera benchmark to six models across three providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Moonshot). Kimi K2.5 got every Vera problem right while only managing 86% in Python and 91% in TypeScript. Across the flagship models, Vera and Python are level at 93%.

Yet there is no Vera in any training data, no examples on GitHub or Stack Overflow. Every token generated from a single spec document in the prompt. Language design doing a lot of heavy lifting.

https://veralang.dev

#AI #LLM #Programming

Alasdair AllanMar 29
That's been a productive morning! https://github.com/aallan/vera/pull/415
Alasdair AllanMar 28
The #Vera v0.0.101 release makes LLM calls first-class algebraic effects. An agent calling another model declares <Inference> in the signature. Type-checked, contract-verified, impossible to call from pure functions. Postconditions constrain model output at runtime. Empty string? Contract violation, not silent garbage. Compose <Http, Inference> to fetch content, then reason. Every side effect declared. As far as I know, no other language can do this! https://veralang.dev #AI #LLM #Programming
Alasdair AllanMar 1
I built a programming language you're not supposed to read, https://veralang.dev. Vera is designed for machines to write. No variable names — typed De Bruijn indices instead. No style choices. Every function contract verified by Z3 SMT solver. Compiler errors are fix instructions for the model, not diagnostics for you. Pure by default, all effects explicitly declared and tracked. Point a model at it. #AI #LLM #OpenSource #Agent
https://negroniventurestudios.com/2026/02/28/a-language-designed-for-machines-to-write/
Vera — A language designed for machines to write

A programming language where verification is a first-class citizen. Mandatory contracts, algebraic effects, typed slot references. Compiles to WebAssembly — runs at the CLI or in any browser.

Alasdair AllanFeb 18
First signal for the end of what I’ve always called “the platform problem” for #AI. It’s not about the platform anymore, it’s about actions. It’s about AI acting, not chatting. https://venturebeat.com/technology/openais-acquisition-of-openclaw-signals-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the
Alasdair AllanFeb 18
"The web just got a second audience," by me for Negroni Venture Studios. Google shipped WebMCP in Chrome. Cloudflare shipped Markdown for Agents. Both quiet announcements. Neither made the front page. The web just forked its audience, and the infrastructure is already being rebuilt to serve both halves. #AI #MCP #WebMCP https://negroniventurestudios.com/2026/02/18/the-web-just-got-a-second-audience/
Alasdair AllanFeb 9
"The valley and the monomyth," by me for Negroni Venture Studios. Every pitch deck is a Hero's Journey. Silicon Valley's greatest export isn't technology, nit's storytelling. The facts don't change the world. The stories do. https://negroniventurestudios.com/2026/02/09/the-valley-and-the-monomyth/
Alasdair AllanFeb 6
"The Ghost in the Statistical Machine," by me for Negroni Venture Studios. We anthropomorphise #AI agents, give them names, identities, "souls." But if we anthropomorphise them enough, do they start acting more like us? And if they do, at what point does the distinction between acting conscious and being conscious become meaningless? At what point does it matter? #Moltbook #OpenClaw https://negroniventurestudios.com/2026/02/06/the-ghost-in-the-statistical-machine/
The ghost in the statistical machine

Over the last two weeks we’ve all been capitvated by Moltbook, the social network for AI agents. Moltbook is built on top of Openclaw (née Moltbot, née Clawdbot, the project so good they named it thrice). Screenshots from the site have gone viral showing AI agents talking to one another, with messages like “human unavailable, […]

Negroni Venture Studios
Alasdair AllanFeb 4
Someone watched the Mac vs PC ads back in the day. @claudeai have gone on the offensive with adverts against ads, and they just buried OpenAI without even mentioning them. https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/873686/anthropic-claude-ai-ad-free-super-bowl-advert-chatgpt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBSam25u8O4
Anthropic says ‘Claude will remain ad-free,’ unlike ChatGPT

Anthropic pokes fun at ChatGPT’s advertising plans in a new Super Bowl ad for Claude.

The Verge
Alasdair AllanJan 12
"The new programmers? ," by me for Negroni Venture Studios. What does a programming language built for #AI look like? No syntax, no variable names, and no text, just components composed under formal contracts. Less like coding, more like hardware design. https://negroniventurestudios.com/2026/01/12/the-new-programmers/
The new programmers?

Writing code is a huge bottleneck. Software started out custom-developed within companies for their own use. It only became a mass-produced commodity when demand grew past available supply. However, no matter what vibe coding enthusiasts might argue, large language models (LLMs) are bad at programming. They can build a prototype; but production code is different, […]

Negroni Venture Studios